0000000000225808
AUTHOR
Monica D’esposito
Novel bioactive bromopyrrole alkaloids from the Mediterranean sponge Axinella verrucosa
The Mediterranean sponge Axinella verrucosa has been investigated for its alkaloid composition and has been found to produce a complex mixture of bromopyrrole alkaloids. Along with the previously isolated compounds 5-18, four novel alkaloids of this class, compounds 1-4, have been isolated, and their structures established through spectroscopic methods. Compounds 1-4 were found to display neuroprotective activity against the agonists serotonin and glutamate in vitro.
Molecular/chemical ecology in sponges. Evidence for an adaptive antibacterial response in Suberites domuncola
Sponges (Porifera) represent the evolutionary oldest metazoan phylum still extant today. They have developed a complex Bauplan, based on the existence of structural and regulatory molecules; many of these have been cloned and analyzed in the past years. The demosponge Suberites domuncula has been used as a suitable model to demonstrate that these animals not only possess an adaptive immune response on the level of cytokines, but also, as pointed out here, on the level of synthesis of bioactive alkyl-lipid derivatives. From specimens of S. domuncula the two lyso-PAF (platelet-activating factor) compounds, 1-O-hexadecyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine and 1-O-octadecyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine…